Railway car door gasket



RAILWAY CAR DOOR GASKET Filed March 4, 1966 INVENTOR. JAMES s. BARRY ATT'YS United States Patent 3,354,841 RAILWAY CAR DOOR GASKET James S. Barry, Omaha, Nebr., assignor of one-half to International Paper Company, New York, N.Y., and one-half to The Stanley Works, New Britain, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Filed Mar. 4, 1966, Ser. No. 531,922 7 Claims. (Cl. 105-424) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hopper car provided with a bottom slide and a dump door and a resilient gasket. The gasket is relatively elongated and is generally U-shaped in transverse cross-section. The edges of the slide project into the U shape of the gasket and are clampingly received by the gasket.

Background of the invention This invention relates to a railway car door and, more particularly, to a unique means for sealing the bottom dump door on a railway car such as a hopper bottom car. Through the years, there has been a continuous problem about the sealing 'of the pivotal door to the cooperating frame-the latter ordinarily being referred to as the slide. The mating or cooperating edges of the door and slide become distorted in use and the initially-provided seal no longer exists. This is especially disadvantageous when fine material is shipped. It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a novel seal to solve the above-described problem; more particularly, a seal readily but removably installed and which is able to withstand the rigors of railroad operation. Here it will be appreciated that degradation of the resilient seal occurs, sometimes quite rapidly. Therefore if a seal is to be effective, it not only must operate properly at the outset, but be readily replaced when its useful life is over. This poses a dilemma. Normally, easy removal permits inadvertent detachment. This, of course, is untenable in the proposed environment. This dilemma is solved by the invention through the provision of a uniquely constructed and contoured gasketing, and the provision of such a material constitutes another object of the invention.

This invention is related to the co-owned Patent No. 2,863,402, which has also to do with the sealing of car doors but solves the same through the provision of a unique paperboard wedge. Although the wedge is still effective, there is a large number of cars which are unable to be equipped with the same since the doors cannot be cranked partially closed so as to accommodate the insertion of the wedge. This limitation is avoided by the instant invention, and, for that matter, the gasketing of the instant invention is universal in its application.

Other objects and advantages of the invention may be seen in the details of construction and operation set down in this specification.

The invention is described in conjunction with an illustrative embodiment in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a hopper car equipped with gasketing according to the instant invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view (from the side and looking upwardly at the bottom of the car of FIG. 1) and which shows the bottom drop door partially opened so as to reveal the inventive gasket- FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view taken from the inside of the car and looking downwardly so as to see the partially open door; and

3,354,841 Patented Nov. 28, 1967 FIG. 4 is a fragmentary enlarged sectional view such as would be seen along the sight line 44 of FIG. 3.

In the illustration given and with reference to FIG. 1, the numeral 10 designates generally a hopper car of conventional construction and which is seen to include the usual generally rectangular frame 11, wheels 12, and hopper 13. The numerals 14 and 14' designate, respectively, front and rear bottom drop doors which cooperate with slides 15 and 15' for confining a load (not shown) within the hopper car 10.

As can be seen best in FIGS. 2 and 4, the slide 15 is equipped with an elongated gasket 16 which is generally U-shaped in transverse section. The door 14 is equipped with an edge flange as at 17 which coacts with the gasket 16 as at 17 to compress the same along two sides as at 16a and 16b to afford a secure seal. The door 14 is pivoted in the usual fashion as at 18 in FIG. 4, and when the door 14 is in closed condition, a latch generally designated 19 (see FIG. 2) is employed to maintain the door in this condition.

I find it advantageous to provide the gasketing 16 in the form of a number of end-to-end mounted elements as at 29, 21, 22, 23 and 24 in FIG. 3. The elements 20, 22 and 24 are straight elements embracing substantially the length of the two sides and bottom of the slide 15, whereas the elements 21 and 23 are longitudinally arcuate to conform to the rounded corners at the end of the slide 15. When using a material of'construction such as polystyrene or other expandable polyester material, i.e., polyethylene, it is possible to provide the corner elements 21 and 23 with a radius curvature of the order of 7". The inherent resiliency or flexibility of these elements permits contouring the same to radii in the range of 6-9" so that only one size 'of corner elements needs to be provided for servicing a variety of size cars.

In the practice ofthe invention, the elements 20-24 are molded by introducing pellets of polystyrene, polyurethane, etc., into a heatable mold and thereafter fusing and expanding the same in conventional fashion to provide a semi-rigid, yet resilient gasket which is quickly yet securely installed over the edge portions of the slide 15. Normally, the door 14- will conform to only three orthogonally related sides of the slide as at 20, 22 and 24 in FIG. 2. However, in some instances, a fourth side is adapted to be equipped with gasket material, and the invention finds useful application to such a structure.

Further, in the practice of the invention, the straight elements 20, 22 and 24 can be provided as a panel wherein a plurality of such elements are arranged in side-by-side relation, secured by weak bonds, thereby facilitating break-away detachment for convenient installation.

I find that the inventive construction provides a superior seal irrespective of the degree of transverse compression as at 16a and 16b. With deformed or distorted doors or slides, there may be gaps ranging from to almost a full thickness of the gasketing, yet the resiliency and the method of mounting cooperate so as to achieve a selective compression to form a good seal along the entire length of whichever element is so selectively compressed.

Optimally, I shape the interior of the gasketing as at to be slightly smaller than the exterior contour of the engaged portion of the slide so that there results a slight clamping action to maintain the gasketing in place. With this construction not only is a superior seal achieved while the gasket remains firmly in place, but a detachment is achieved without the use of special tools or any great expenditure of labor.

Further, the partial compressibility of the gasketing develops another advantage in that the continuous gasket need not be laid down. In other words, slight gaps can be tolerated as at 20a between the straight length 20 and the 3 curved length 21. When the door is closed to compress the gasket elements, there is slight longitudinal expansion to bring the elements 20 and 21 into abutting relation so as to develop a continuous lineal seal around the scalable portion of the slide perimeter.

A typical gasket element is about one inch wide and one inch high, with the U-shape configuration interior being developed by an opening about /2" deep by /2" wide.

While in the foregoing specification a detailed description of an embodiment of the invention has been set down for the purpose of explanation, many variations in the details herein given may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In combination, a drop bottom car having at least one opening to the bottom thereof, a slide fixed to said bottom below the same in angled relation thereto, a door pivotally mounted on said bottom for cooperative relation with said slide in closing said opening, said slide having at least three generally orthogonally related side edges adapted to confront corresponding edge portions of said 7 door when the latter is in closed position, and resilient gasketing mounted on said edges, said gasketing being relatively elongated and having a generally U shape in transverse section with the said edges projecting into said U shape and being clampingly received by said gasketing, whereby said door is adapted to selectively compress said gasketing to compensate for deviations in said door and edges from sealing contact.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which a plurality of elements of said gasketing are arranged in end-to-end relation about said edges, the corners defined by said edges being arcuate, some of said elements being arcuate to conform thereto, said door, in compressing said gasketing causing said end related elements to contact to develop a continuous seal between said door and said slide.

3. The structure of claim 1 in which said gasketing is constructed of polyurethane.

4. The structure of claim 1 in which said gasketing is constructed of expanded polymeric material.

5. The structure of claim 4 in which said material is polystyrene.

6. The structure of claim 1 in which said U shape is provided by a longitudinally-extending slit.

7. The structure of claim 6 in which said gasketing is constructed of polyurethane.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 734,977 7/1903 Simonton 105249 743,504 11/1903 Hart 105424 X 1,099,878 6/1914 Hopkins 105424 1,955,868 4/1934 Wine 105424 X 2,250,524 7/ 1941 Dietrichson 105307 2,698,198 12/1954 Mulon 105424 X 3,097,612 7/1963 Dorey 105424 X 3,138,116 6/1964 Dorey 105424 X ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

H. BELTRAN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN COMBINATION, A DROP BOTTOM CAR HAVING AT LEAST ONE OPENING TO THE BOTTOM THEREOF, A SLIDE FIXED TO SAID BOTTOM BELOW THE SAME IN ANGLED RELATION THERETO, A DOOR PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON SAID BOTTOM FOR COOPERATIVE RELATION WITH SAID SLIDE IN CLOSING SAID OPENING, SAID SLIDE HAVING AT LEAST THREE GENERALLY ORTHOGONALLY EDGE PORTIONS OF SAID ADAPTED TO CONFRONT CORRESPONDING EDGE PORTIONS OF SAID DOOR WHEN THE LATTER IS IN CLOSED POSITION, AND RESILIENT GASKETING MOUNTED ON SAID EDGES, SAID GASKETING BEING RELATIVELY ELONGATED AND HAVING A GENERALLY U SHAPE IN TRANSVERSE SECTION WITH THE SAID EDGES PROJECTING INTO SAID U SHAPE AND BEING CLAMPINGLY RECEIVED BY SAID GASKETING, WHEREBY SAID DOOR IS ADAPTED TO SELECTIVELY COMPRESS SAID GASKETING TO COMPENSATE FOR DEVIATIONS IN SAID DOOR AND EDGES FROM SEALING CONTACT. 